The number of foreign-born people living in the United States grew by 15 percent from 2010 to 2022, to just over 46 million, despite slow population growth, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Demographer William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the increase was not as large as in previous decades, especially from 1990-2000.

Between 1990 and 2000, the number of foreign-born residents of the US rose from 19 million to 31 million, an increase of 12 million. In contrast, the same group grew by just 6.2 million, from 40 million to 46.2 million over the period 2010-2022. Frey says there are several key factors behind the slowdown.

"The Trump administration has reduced some of the immigration levels with various aspects of their policies, and then, of course, there's the pandemic. But then, at the end of this period, growth started again. "We won't see most of it until next year when the new reports come out," Frey said.

Despite early indications that the immigrant population grew at a faster pace in 2023, Frey expects slower growth going forward, especially among the younger population.

"In order to improve the workforce, we need to increase our immigration. It's a very political issue, but I think a reasonable economic way to look at it would be to make sure that we continue to have reasonable levels of immigration," Frey said.

Census numbers show that the educational attainment of foreign-born people living in the US is on the rise. In 2010, 68 percent of people in this group completed secondary school or higher education, while in 2022 this number increased to 75 percent.

In the states with the most immigrants, California (26.5%), New Jersey (23.2%), New York (22.6%), and Florida (21.1%), the foreign-born make up over a fifth of the population.